January 20, 2009

Mission Accomplished

America has been traumatized by the dark depressing cloud of immorality and dishonesty in the cause of self-centered greed coupled with utter indifference to the needs of the 90% of Americans worth less than a few million that defined the Bush era. As this perversion of and assault on American values passes into the dust bin of history, a new era began today.

Today marks the end of the age of ignorance and callous indifference. And Americans rejoiced, as did millions around the world.

The countdown clock in the sidebar reads all zeros. Millions of people around the world, most particularly myself, who has struggled long and hard to cope with and outlast what I knew would be a disasterous administration literally since the day it began, since the day this obviously unqualified flawed pretender was installed into office by a vote of 5 to 4.

I sometimes despaired tht this day would ever come, or if it would come too late. It did come. At long last. Today.

The past is gone, though the damage the radical Republicans and Bush have left in their wake will take generations to repair, and in some cases can never be undone. This is a fact that the world will have to deal with. Nothing like this passes without leaving scars. Like thousands upon thousands of youths who, seeing us slaughter their families, destroy their homes and towns, who now will carry a seething hatred for our country for the rest of their lives. And no one can blame them.

Cheney was in a wheelchair, looking like some aging Mafia Don being wheeled into a courthouse. A creepier looking villian couldn't be found in central casting.

Is it wrong that this shot conjures up the image of Cheney bouncing down the steps out of control in the wheelchair while loudly uttering gutteral half grunts, half quacks ala The Penguin? "Whaan! Whaaaaan! Whan, Whan,Whan!!" Just in a cartoony way, of course.

Obama was bamboozled by Chief Justice John Roberts when Roberts managed to screw up the 36 word presidential Oath of Office.

The Obama girls, as always, looked cute as buttons and well dressed, and it was fun to see Malia snapping shots on her digital camera before and after the ceremony.

Obama had said that during the family's visit to the Lincoln Memorial the day before the inaugural, that after reading Lincoln's immortal words carved into the walls there, Malia had turned to her dad and said, "Wow. Your speech better be good!".

After her dad delivered his address, the first person he turned to was Malia, and you can plainly read her lips as she looks up at him and says, "That was a good speech.", to which Obama responded with his remarkable smile.

And amazingly, on the day when bi-partisanship and unity was the order of the day, Supreme Court justice Sam Alito was actually childish and petty enough to not attend the inauguration at all, apparently miffed because Obama and Biden voted against his nomination to the court.

I ask, just how small a person do you have to be to pull something like that on an occassion for all Americans? And of course, from a conservative in a high position which is required to be strictly non-partisan, neutral, and apolitical. What a collossal jerk.

Hmmm. Wonder if they're all that small. Maybe Roberts, whom Obama voted against as well, thought it would be cute to screw Obama up on the oath? Nah!

Rev. Rick "Being gay is comparable to bestiality and pedophilia" Warren from Brokeback Church gave his forgetable little prayer, enjoying world-wide exposure he never should have been afforded.

Aretha, The Queen of Soul, did her thing singing "America the Beautiful", and Itzhak Perlman, Yo Yo Ma, Gabriela Montero, pianist and clarinetist Anthony McGill performed a very moving piece written for the occasion by John Williams which I thought was great.

But aside from Obama's address, in my opinion, the highlight of the entire ceremony was the benediction given by the legendary 87 year old civil rights veteran Rev. Joseph Lowrey. (Transcript below)

And it looks like you can take the guy out of Chicago, but you can't take the Chicago out of the guy... at least when the guy is Rahm Emmanual.

Here's a shot of him on the platform prior to Obama's arrival.

Unfortunately, the caption didn't provide the target of his nose thumbing, but it appears as though it's entirely in jest.

The crowd thumbed it's collective noses at Bush, and a massive low hum of boos greeted his introduction. The crowd was studded with signs reading "Arrest Bush", "See ya!", and at the mention of his name by TV talking heads, those around their location spontaneously broke into choruses of "Nah, nah, nah, nah, hey, hey, good bye!". One of my favorite signs delivered the mesesage to those who've mislead our country for the past decades, "We are the deciders."

People? There were a few that braved the cold, the restrictive security lines. No one complained. When you're really, REALLY happy, nothing much bothers you.

Leave your impressions of the Inaugural ceremonies. What did you like, dislike? What struck you or made an impression?

Here we see some scary Republicans (including Sen. Nosferatu, R-Transylvania) emerging from The Crypt. (Yep, at least that's what the sign in the upper left says. Click to enlarge.) The other two undead Republicans are unable to open their eyes in the glaring light of day.

Benediction of Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery:

God of our weary yearsGod of our silent tearsThou who has brought us thus far along the wayThou who has by thy might lead us into the lightKeep us forever on the path we prayLest our feet stray from the places our God where we met theeLest our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget theeShadows beneath our hand, may we forever standTrue to thee oh God, and true to our native land

We truly give thanks for the glorious experience we've shared this dayWe pray now oh Lord for thy blessing upon thy servant Barack Obama, the 44th president of these United States, his family, and his administration.

He has come to this high office at a low moment in the national and indeed, global fiscal climate.

But because we know you got the whole world in your hands, we pray for not only our nation, but for the community of nations.

Our faith does not shrink, though pressed by the flood of mortal ills.

For we know that Lord you're able, and you're willing to work through faithful leadership to restore stability, mend our brokenness, heal our wounds, and deliver us from the exploitation of the poor or the least of these, and from favoritism towards the rich, the elite of these.

We thank you for the empowering of our servant, our 44th president to inspire our nation to believe that YES WE CAN work together to achieve a more perfect union.

And while we have sown the wind of greed and corruption, and even as we reap the whirlwind of social and economic disruption, we seek forgiveness, and we come in the spirit of unity and solidarity to commit our support to our president by our willingness to make sacrifices, to respect your creation, to turn too each other, and not on each other.

And now lord in the complex arena of human relations help us to make choices on the side of love, not hate, on the side of inclusion, not exclusion, tolerance, not intolerance.

And as we leave this mountaintop, help us to hold on to the spirit of fellowship and the oneness of our family.

Let us take that power back to our homes, our workplaces, our churches, our temples, our mosques, wherever we seek your will.

We go now to walk together children pledging that we won't get weary in the difficult days ahead. We know that you will not leave us alone, with your hands of power, and your heart of love.

Help us then now Lord to work for that day when nation shall not lift up sword against nation, when tanks will be beaten into tractors, when every man and every woman shall sit under his or her own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid.

When justice will roll down like waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.

Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back. When brown can stick around. When yellow will be mellow. And when the red man can get ahead, man. And when white will embrace what is right.

3 Comments:

I am curious-I thought the Chief Justice was supposed to give the oath to both Vice-President and President but if you notice, Justice Stevens gave the oath to Biden. Why is that? And after seeing how Chief Justice Roberts botched it up, it would have been better if Stevens did'em both.

The weather looked colder than a well-digger's ass. Brrrrr. It was much, much too cold to stand in the capitol mall with a million people. I thought how Bush 41 was the only one with the sense to wear a hat. Everybody should have been wearing a warm hat- with ear flaps.

I have read more about 20th century history and the civil rights movement than 99% of people, and I have never heard of this Joseph Lowery or whatever the hell his name is.

Pastor Rick Warren is much better known and his book "The Purpose Driven Life" is more widely read that this blog. Sorry, but you're being too hard on Rick Warren. He is inheriting the mantle of being "the people's pastor" just like Billy Graham was. Shall we bring up Pastor Wright? Where was he?

Yes, Obama's kids are cute.

I don't really believe that Dick Cheney pulled his back. (as if they have to move their own boxes!) I don't know what the "real story" was, be it hemroids or heart trouble. But I am grateful for the job Cheney did as Vice-President. He is a good man and a top notch public servant. And I take no pleasure in seeing anybody confined to a wheelchair... or like you... fantasizing about pushing him down the stairs.

I do not believe that Teddy Kennedy had a seizure.Give me a break. I suspect that he was his usual drunken self. Except maybe today he started "celebrating" a little early. And as we all know, booze doesn't mix too well with those medications. He needs to lay off the bottle.

GW Bush did not win because of a 5-4 Supreme Court decision. He won because Al Gore was a lousy candidate and he was unable to win any key states, the way Obama did. So it is possible. It seems silly that we are even still debating that.

Damn. You were doing so well there. I was agreeing with nearly everything you said.

Then your inner asshole popped out with a vengence with your jaw-droppingly dumb-ass, unfair, and downright crude and jerky comment about Sen. Ted Kennedy.

That is about as vile a suggestion as I've heard on here, and I've heard thousands.

I suppose Bush Sr. was drunk off his ass too, right? Did you see the way he tottered and shuffled along? Obviously shit-faced, right? Hell, while you're at it, why don't you make a hilarious crack about Jim Brady being drunk too. Ever see the way he talks? And Babs? Her mom was a Shar-pei, right?

A man battling brain cancer gets up the fortitude and desire to attend an inaugural in that sort of weather when he's probably not supposed to leave bed. He makes it to D.C., and attends the ceremony under his own power to witness the historic event.

Then at a dinner afterwards, the man suffers a seizure and has to be rushed to the hospital.

And YOU have the nerve to say what you said?

You're just a fucking asshole of the highest magnitude Nico.

And I'm actually sad to say it. But damn! Don't you know when you're acting like that? Is there no little light that goes off in your head?

Bet you're a real riot at funerals.

I was going to agree and elaborate on your points, but brother, you just blew it all out of the water with that comment.

And everyone that knows any facts about the Bush/Gore situation knows that it was indeed the Supreme Court that intervened where they had no right to and, solely by their ruling, gave the election to Bush.

Hell, part of the opinion read that the reason they were doing so was because to not stop the count would do "irreparable harm to candidate Bush". How much more plain do you want it?

A huge majority of legal scholars as well as 4 out of the 5 recount standards used the the group of media outlets which sponsored the recount after the ruling showed Gore winning by a substantial amount.

It's amazing anyone thinks that somehow all the facts and all the evidence has somehow changed over the years and that now people should just believe there's nothing to it.

Like a typical Republican who is mired in Bushworld, you think you can alter facts and history just by declaring it so.

Nope. Not any more. We're really TIRED of being bullshitted. Didn't you get the memo?

And Rick Warren sells more books than I have readers? NO!! Why, he's sold what, 13 million copies of his pop-psychology hoo-ha?

Well, counting you, there's got to be at least 2 people that read this blog. Hell, I don't even read it.

But I'm not so sure I equate worthiness with book sales. O.J. Simpson sold a lot of books too. So did Hitler.

Warren's nothing but Falwell light. He sees the writing on the wall, and like any good snake-oil peddler, he moves with the trends. So he picks a more sensible position on the environment and a few other issues to cloak himself with reasonable positions and position himself as a more "moderate" evangelical.

But he's still a religious huckster with no more grasp on moral truth than Rev. Wright, or the manager of a Blockbuster in Keokuk for that matter.

We don't need another Billy Graham. In fact, it would be a great idea to just let that whole "Reverend-in-Chief" concept die along with Billy.

By your unrepentant racism and vile personal attacks on those you differ with politically, I can tell that this country truly won't make much progress until those like you die off, which won't be all that long from now in the scheme of things.

Your day has passed. Your wrong-headed and ignorant habits of thought are done, shown to be unworkable and far out of step with reality as our country moves into the future.

So sit back, cuss at the darky in the White House on TV if you want.

But don't be surprised if you find fewer and fewer people sharing your views.

I would give a dishonorable mention to Sen. Cornyn for his little stunt in delaying Clinton's appointment. What was the point other than to deny our President his full cabinet for a lousy day?? As far as I'm concerned it makes him a Texas-sized A-HOLE!! Par for the course with that bunch though.

Otherwise it was a day to remember. By the time Aretha took the mike this middle-age, white, redneck was going off like a fountain. That gal still has the pipes. Absolutely beautiful!!!!

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